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The List: A Love Story in 781 Chapters
 
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The List: A Love Story in 781 Chapters [Hardcover]

Aneva Stout (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

Price: $12.95 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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Book Description

April 27, 2006
The blind date with a gluten allergy. The ex who can't stop talking about the French girlfriend who dumped him. The cute young bartender who knows how to make a Manhattan straight up. And, of course, Mr. Right—who looks like Liam Neeson, writes poetry like e.e. cummings, plays the guitar like Jimmy Page. Until he turns out to be a complete and total jerk.

Narrated in 781 chapters—The List is an irresistible look at love, dating, friendship, sex, cats, thongs, and shopping. And a story that's as pleasurable, as interesting, as gossipy, as truthful, as reassuring, as compelling, as sane, as necessary as a late-night phone call to your best friend ever. Pour a cup of tea, curl up on the couch, and read to your heart's content.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Stout's debut novel is a clever hybrid of meta-fiction and gift book: this slim, illustrated hardcover is a love story composed entirely of second-person affirmation-style list entries, none more than two or three dozen words. The result offers all the guilty pleasures of chick lit—the snarky humor of a good glossy magazine and the soothing cadences of a girl-loses-boy-girl-finds-boy-girl-dumps-boy plot—with a precise breakdown of the newest behemoth genre which, at its best, refines the form to poetic abstraction without sacrificing readability: "248. You'll wonder how he keeps his bathroom tile so sparkling. 249. He'll say, 'Are you okay?' 250. You'll say, 'Don't stop!' " It can grate when its heroine (you) hews too close to cliché, but Stout generally avoids easy laughs at her character's/audience's expense. Though brief, the book has enough drama, emotional resonance and sharp throw-away lines ("333. You'll look in his closet. 334. You'll find something you wish you hadn't. a. A closet that's neater than your living room. b. Twister. c. A videotape labeled: Aruba.") to make it worth revisiting, either in part or whole. Simultaneously, the "high art" fiction conceit reinvigorates the "low-art" gift-book genre it appropriates—not a major achievement (à la The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay or Lorrie Moore's Self-Help), but no small feat either. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“Aneva Stout gets it: The List is an honest, funny look at the way we love, like, lust and …list.”
Lauren Weisberger, author of The Devil Wears Prada and Everyone Worth Knowing

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 96 pages
  • Publisher: Workman Publishing Company (April 27, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0761142169
  • ISBN-13: 978-0761142164
  • Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 6.5 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #620,425 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars the list: A Love Story in 781 Chapters, June 17, 2006
This review is from: The List: A Love Story in 781 Chapters (Hardcover)
A true delight to savor. More please.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A witty and quick read!, June 13, 2006
By 
This review is from: The List: A Love Story in 781 Chapters (Hardcover)
You are desperate for a husband. You have given up on finding him. Or maybe you are confused. You mother is pressuring you, but you can always count on your girlfriend--and maybe a bottle of cooking wine. If all else fails, vodka. But only if there is no phone present.

You certainly don't want to call your ex's French girlfriend. But that leads you straight to the cafe where you meet Liam, or his look alike. When he says he loves cats, you don't know he is talking about the waitress. Goodbye Liam. Hello Haagen-Dazs. Blind dates and gluten don't mix. Always, always trust a pet store. Mister Right might be holding a kitten, but he won't ask for directions.

The List, A Love Story in 781 Chapters, is a laugh-out-loud funny, highly entertaining read. I even got over the fact that it is written in second person present--did you even know that was possible? It reads just like your best friend sending a love-lesson warning over Instant Message, one sentence at a time. There is no time for graphic descriptions as one sentence may encompass two weeks. Or two seconds.

I finished The List in a single sitting of about 45 minutes. It is probably perfect for a pedicure, or an hour on the beach--but don't take it on a long car ride or you will spend a lot of time surfing on the radio.

Armchair Interviews says: The List is a witty, quick read, but almost too quick.




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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars the concept works...., June 11, 2006
This review is from: The List: A Love Story in 781 Chapters (Hardcover)
How does an author encapsulate the entire dating experience into a mere 90 pages or so? Why, by making it into a list, of course!

THE LIST is a unique approach to a love story. The reader shares the list maker's horror at her blind-date-gone-wrong and her anxiety of preparing for her date with Mr. Right (who turns into Mr. Wrong).

The most endearing part of THE LIST is the consistency of the friendship with the best girlfriend. Every female who has ever gone on a date knows how invaluable it is to have a friend you can trust- the kind of friend you can call up after getting drunk and making a stupid call to an ex-boyfriend. THE LIST will remind readers of their own nightmare dating experiences but, even more importantly, shows the power of friendship in surviving them!

The inclusion of the cat in THE LIST is particularly clever. The cat remains calm and indifferent (as cats tend to do) throughout the list maker's emotional roller coaster. This provides the perfect contrast to the entire dating scenario and ironically it is the cat who appears to provide direction as to how each relationship will turn out.

THE LIST is a cute, surprisingly poignant, book. This reviewer had to read this book if only to see how the author would manage to actually make a book using the list concept. THE LIST succeeds in drawing the reader into the entire experience of dating, loving, and losing the one you thought you loved. If you are looking for a deep, lengthy novel, this is not the book for you. However, if you are looking for a meaningful gift book to share with a best friend, then this is precisely the book you are looking for!

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES
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